Self-Destructing Boeing Black Smartphone Now In Testing

These days, smartphone security is one of the biggest concerns for users, with more and more vulnerabilities seemingly found every month, it's no wonder that smartphone users are beginning to get a little twitchy. After all, it's as simple as not changing your password after a breach from Dropbox, or leaving your account logged in somewhere to end up in big trouble these days. One area that users cannot afford to be hacked or have information leaked is of course, the military, which is why military contractor Boeing started work on their own smartphone, dubbed the Boeing Black.

The Boeing Black has been in development for years now, and was spotted going through the FCC way back in 2014. Back then, the device was spotted with a dual SIM option, but that was back in 2014, and since then we've really not heard much from Boeing or those working on the project, which is a little bizarre, but not so much given the secrecy of the entire project and who the phone is intended for in the first place. The Boeing Black is now, however, apparently now in testing according to a report from Defense One. According to those familiar with the device, the Boeing Black uses "a lot of encryption" and is designed to allow access to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) as well as provide non-secure access to the outer-world switching between SIM cards to ensure that only a secure SIM can be used to reach JWICS. The device is set up as a sort of terminal, rather than a standalone computer like standard smartphones are. The phone is designed to be completely tamper-proof in so much that the whole device is sealed using Epoxy and then the only screws visible will destroy the device when tampered with.

Overkill? Most certainly for an average smartphone, but the Boeing Black isn't your average piece of hardware, and making a smartphone for military use is no doubt a lot more difficult than many will at first realize. Given that these reports of it undergoing testing at long last aren't official, it might be difficult for us to ever see the Boeing Black hit the market, as it might end up launching in total secrecy one day out of the blue.